Hand: Seven Glosses (19r, 34r, 38v, 43rv), CCCC 23, vol. i

Stokes, English Vernacular Script, ca 990–ca 1035, Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006)

These glosses were probably all written by different scribes and vary in pen-width, colour, grade, and letter-form. The first on 19r, space, was written with a medium-width pen, light ink, and shows Caroline s with a straight back, no wedge, and a low hook; straight-backed single-compartment a; round c; round e with a long, straight, rising tongue; and no wedge on p. The second gloss on this folio, for swanende, was written with a pen of similar width and with ink of similar colour to the first. The script is backward-leaning, and is very angular. Caroline d was used, and both f and r were clumsily written and fall somewhere between Caroline and Insular forms. The back of a is very straight, vertical, and extends below the rounded, single-compartment bowl. The back of e is horned and vertical, and the tongue is high, horizontal, and turned up at the tip. A regular wedge is found on d, but the tops of descenders have barbs. The shoulders of r and n are very angular. The third gloss, wifreð, was written with a very thin pen and in a much darker ink than the first two, and the letter-forms are entirely Insular. The hooks of f and r are very angular, and the tongue of f is long and flat. Both a wedge and a small foot are found on i. The back of ð is very steep and very straight, and the through-stroke sits entirely on the right, lacks any hook, and curves up slightly. The descender of r is hooked up at the tip. The fourth gloss, holod, was written with a thin pen, though not as thin as that on 34r, and the colour is also darker than the first two glosses but lighter than the third. The h is well-formed and has a wedge but is Caroline; l, in contrast, has no wedge and is backward-leaning. The back of d is angled at about 50–60° and is vertical-tipped. The second o is quite angular, particularly in the north-east quadrant, and is almost shaped like a rounded triangle. The fifth gloss, gyre, was written with a very thin pen in dark ink. The hand is relatively cursive but fairly angular. The top of g is flat, and the mid-section is straight and angled down and left, then turns sharply right at the base-line before turning down and left again, and the tail is long, trailing, and fairly straight. The left branch of y is fairly long and turns out slightly to the left; the right branch has a small wedge, the tail is straight, and the form is straight-limbed without a dot. The shoulder of r is very angular and the descender short with a slight hook up at the bottom, the form therefore being close to Caroline. The hook of r and the hook of the following e were formed with a single stroke, e itself being round and having a long, straight tongue which rises from mid-height. The next gloss is also found on 43r; again the pen is fairly thin, the ink black, and the letters are thoroughly Insular. Ascenders lack wedges, but the tops of minims and descenders have approach-strokes. The descender of f is very short. Straight-limbed undotted y was used, the tail of which is very long, the left branch hooked down, and the right branch hooked left. Horned e was used, the back of which leans slightly backward, the hook of which is angular, the lower curve short, and the tongue straight and rising. The body of a is very small and angular, and the back is much longer, close to vertical, and hooked up at the bottom. The last gloss, stif, was written with a thin pen and black ink. A tall, narrow, Caroline s+t ligature was used, the top of the t touching the back of the s and also meeting the top of the following i. The i itself has a wedge and foot, as does f. The hook of f is angular and angled up slightly, and the tongue is straight and is at the same angle as the tongue.